Lincoln and Darwin

I just read this article comparing Lincoln and Darwin. It was quite interesting. They were both born on the same day in the same year. They both changed the course of history - one for a nation, one for science. They shared personal issues: depression, loss of a mother at a young age. They were both magnificent writers. The article goes on to ask who was more important. The author brings up the point that it is like comparing apples and oranges - with which I agree. They were both extremely influential in their respective fields, but Darwin lived in England and was a scientist and Lincoln lived in the US and was a politician (to this day, politicians don't listen to scientists - at least not the ones that they haven't paid). However, he decides he must have a winner and decides that Lincoln was more important. His argument is that without Lincoln, who knows what the state of our union would be, but with Darwin, someone else was bound to come along and think up the theory of evolution (this is true as Alfred Wallace indeed did also come up with the idea); but who is to say that no one else would have come along to abolish slavery? Also, Darwin's idea influenced scientists world-wide, Lincoln preserved the nation, which eventually gained world-wide influence, but not until half a century later. I just say they were both extremely influential, intelligent men, without who, we would be ther poorer.

5th Anniversary

Today is the 5th anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq. Can you believe it has been 5 years? It has been such a waste of everything. Some quick stats (as of March 9, 2008, from the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index)

3,979 US Soldiers Killed

29,320 Seriously Wounded

Troops in Iraq - Total 164,895, including 155,000 from the US, 4,500 from the UK, 2,000 from Georgia, 900 from Poland, 650 from South Korea and 1,845 from all other nations

US Troop Casualities - 3,979 US troops (more than the number of civilians-2,974-killed on 9/11/01); 98% male. 90% non-officers; 80% active duty, 12% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 10% African-American, 11% Latino. 18% killed by non-hostile causes. 51% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 70% were from the US Army

Non-US Troop Casualties - Total 308, with 175 from the UK

US Troops Wounded - 29,320, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)

US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home

US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 68 total, at least 36 by enemy fire

Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $600 billion of US taxpayers' funds. President Bush has requested another $200 billion for 2008, which would bring the cumulative total to close to $800 billion.

U.S. Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion in 2008

Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq - $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)

Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.

Missing - $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)

Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings

Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion

Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or supportable" - $3.2 billion

Private Contractors in Iraq, Working in Support of US Army Troops - More than 180,000 in August 2007, per The Nation/LA Times.

Journalists killed - 127 - 84 by murder and 43 by acts of war

Journalists killed by US Forces - 14

Iraqi Police and Soldiers Killed - 7,951

Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualties have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualties at over 600,000.

Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000

Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed - 548

Non-Iraqi Kidnapped - 305, including 54 killed, 147 released, 4 escaped, 6 rescued and 94 status unknown.

Daily Insurgent Attacks, Feb 2004 - 14

Daily Insurgent Attacks, July 2005 - 70

Daily Insurgent Attacks, May 2007 - 163

Estimated Insurgency Strength, Nov 2003 - 15,000

Estimated Insurgency Strength, Oct 2006 - 20,000 - 30,000

Estimated Insurgency Strength, June 2007 - 70,000

To all of our loved ones who were there, are there, and are about to go there: thank you for doing your part and thank you for coming home safe. I support you with my whole heart even if I do not support this stupid war.

Caucus!

Last Sunday, Maine held its democratic caucus. I have never been involved in a caucus before so I decided to go, it sounded exciting and I feel it's important to be a part of our nation's politics. I was able to participate since I was registered as "undeclared." I heard this wouldn't be a problem, all you have to do it re-register as a democrat and then go participate in the caucus. It started at 2 pm so I got there just after. As I drove up the street to the garage I parked it, I saw the line of people waiting to get into the high school where the caucus was held. It didn't look too bad except it was snowing wet snow but I figured it wouldn't be too long until we got in the building. Little did I know there was a line equally as long coming around the other side of the block. So I was standing outside for about an hour. It wasn't too bad until the last 15-20 minutes when I started to get really cold. So finally, we (this is the collected "we" as my hubby passed on the event) got inside the building.

Once I got inside I was directed to another line to re-register as a democrat. This line went up three flights of stairs and lasted probably another hour. By this time I was a bit tired but still interested in participating in the process. There were lots of people talking about Obama, walking up and down the hallway with signs and some recruits for the city's Democratic party. I saw a few people I knew, made temporary friends with the people I was in line with. No one really complained about the lines which made the atmosphere fairly enjoyable, albeit tiresome.

Finally I got into the room where I could change my party affiliation. This room was total chaos. You were supposed to get in the line according to your last name, although after standing in the S-Z line for about 30 minutes, I found out that the V-Z line was really under the H-J line so I moved over there. Once I changed my party, I got a small slip of paper with my district on it so I knew what room to go to. However, at that point, all of the caucus rooms were rumored to be full so they gave us the option of voting absentee. At that point I was thoroughly tired of being in line so I filled out my absentee ballot and went home.

It was certainly an experience and now at least I know to get there earlier and to re-register for my party ahead of time. It was a very successful caucus for the state with 99% of the precincts participating. Yeah for democracy!